Cherry Stones
by Lucky Little Leprechaun
Summary: Lily comes to terms with some startling new feelings for a certain tall, dark haired, quidditch player.
1. Chapter 1

**Cherry Stones:**

**Disclaimer: Lily Evans, James Potter and the setting of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all belong to the wonderful J K Rowling.**

**Summary: It takes Lily a while to come to terms with her feelings for James!**

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Lily, as delicately as these things can be done, removed the cherry stone from her mouth and placed it in the pot. She looked, as ever, calm and knowledgeable with her long red hair sensibly tied back and her studious green eyes fixed on a point about halfway up the lilac wall. There was a slight air of detachment to her, suggesting she was deep in thought.**

**She may have looked calm but truthfully she was anything but, in fact, her thoughts were descending into a fairly dire pit of incomprehension, bewilderment and utter disbelief. She was having immense difficulties coming to terms with the rather startling feelings she'd been having. **

**Surely, _surely_, she didn't really like him. **

**James? **

**Really?**

**No, of course not. They were friends certainly, they had been since the middle of sixth year when Lily had realised that he wasn't really the insufferably arrogant prat she had always taken him for. They were close friends even, especially since becoming head boy and girl this year but that was it. There was nothing more. Friends. Just friends. Truly. **

**Yes, of course he was handsome- anyone with half an eye could see that- and he did have that secretive little smile he sometimes wore as though laughing at his own private joke that, loathe though she was to admit it, did make her go a tiny bit weak at the knees. Just a tiny bit. **

**What was wrong with her? Why had she suddenly seemed to start liking James? It had started about two weeks ago. **

**It was a wet Sunday morning, a typical late autumn morning. It had rained continuously through Saturday afternoon and throughout the night but this had failed to dampen the Gryffindor's spirits as they celebrated their first quidditch win of the season over Slytherin. **

**The morning light came creeping lazily through her window, coming to rest in a pool covering her pillow. Lily groaned as the light coaxed her awake and stumbled not at all gracefully out of bed. She tripped down the stairs into the living room area she shared with James, past the small kitchenette and over to the bathroom. She pushed open the door, shuffled over to her sink, picked up her brush and started viciously attacking her hair with it trying to make it look even half way decent. **

**It had never even occurred to Lily that James might have been in the bathroom. James was one of these unfathomable people who like to get a good start on the day and generally at weekends James was up and out of the heads' dorm at least an hour before Lily even surfaced. Yet, as she glanced into the mirror she saw a fairly amused James stepping out of the shower, a towel wrapped round his waist. **

**He was wearing that little smile.**

**"****Lily, what are you doing up this early?" He teased her. **

**Lily was petite but not particularly short for her age, however, James was tall and so when she turned around to face him due to where her eye level was she was treated to a clear view of his chest. **

**And what a view it was.**

**Lily was in a complete state of shock: James Potter was standing in front of her, practically naked, and she couldn't seem to drag her eyes away from his chest. **

**"****Lily? You OK?" He asked. **

**Finally managing to pull herself together Lily dragged her eyes away from his chest and stared at the floor. **

**"****Me? Yep, I'm fine…I'm great." She replied slightly dazed. "I've got to go." And with that she turned and fled back to her bedroom. **

**James stared after her for a moment slightly bemused before shrugging to himself and making his way back to his own room to get dressed. **

**Since then Lily had found herself thinking more and more about James. About how sweet and caring he was, how good looking he was, how intelligent he was, how good at quidditch he was…**

**But still, she didn't _like_ him or anything. Of course not. **

**As she dropped another cherry stone into the pot she remembered a rhyme she always used to say when eating cherries to figure out what she'd be when she was older. **

**"****Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, poor man, rich man, beggar man, thief." She repeated to herself with a little smile. She'd stopped playing this game when she was accepted to Hogwarts because 'witch' wasn't an option.**

**Her sister Petunia had never had much time for this saying, instead when eating cherries she had always played the: 'He loves me…he loves me not' game thinking of her latest repulsive amdmirer.**

**This gave Lily an idea. There were five more cherries left in the bowl. Popping one in her mouth she took the stone and dropped it in the pot. **

**"****I like him," She said. **

**She ate the second cherry:  
"I like him not,"**

**"****I like him,"**

**"****I like him not,"**

**"****I like him!" **

**"****Oh Merlin." She said realising it was true. "Oh good Merlin."**

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A/N: What did you think? Love it? Hate it? Indifferent? Review and tell me! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Marlene McKinnon, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Alice Longbottom, and the setting of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all belong to the wonderful J K Rowling.**

**Summary: It takes Lily a while to come to terms with her feelings for James!**

**A/N: Thank you to all my amazing reviewers. I love you so much, all of you are my heroes. This was originally going to be a one shot but after all the lovely, supportive reviews I decided to write another chapter I hope it still works.  
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**"**Oh God," Lily said to herself, "I actually do like him. I like James Potter. I just really did not see this one coming." Talking to herself was one of Lily's more peculiar habits, she hadn't quite descended to the level of answering herself back yet; but, she supposed, that development probably wasn't far off. **

"**I need Marlene!" Lily shrieked as she jumped up from her bed and ran down the stairs. James was sitting on one of the sofas reading a book; he looked up when she ran in:**

"**Hey Lily…" He started. **

"**Can't talk now James, gotta go." She cut him off as she dashed past him. **

**James watched the tornado whoosh past him grinning. He'd grown used to Lily's occasional bouts of hysteria and was confident in the fact that she would eventually calm down. He pondered for a moment on how Lily managed to keep the coolest head in a real crisis but could quite easily become completely frantic about the littlest things. 'She's probably forgotten a piece of homework or something,' James thought before turning back to his book. **

**Lily sprinted out of the heads' dorm and up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, gasping the password at the portrait of the fat lady. **

"**Marlene!" She yelled as she got into the common room. "Marlene McKinnon come down here right now, it's urgent!" **

**The near black hair and ever so pale skin of her friend was nowhere to be seen. "Marlene," Lily called again desperately, still breathing deeply from her race up to the tower. **

"**She's not here Evans. She's in Hogsmeade with Fabian Prewett." A deep yet soft voice came from the other side of the room. **

**Lily turned to see Sirius Black smiling at her. Normally the information that one of her closest friends was in Hogsmeade with the boy she'd liked since second year would have distracted Lily somewhat, but not now: she urgently needed to talk to her friend about this fairly distressing new discovery and the news that she wouldn't be able to for at least another couple of hours did not make her feel the slightest bit better. **

"**You alright Evans? You look like your hyperventilating." **

"**I might well be, I've just had something of a shock." Lily managed to get out between pants. **

"**Sit down," Sirius said gesturing to the chair across from him, Lily did as instructed, "Now, this shock, you didn't run into Prongs coming out of the shower again did you?"**

**Lily's green eyes widened with surprise. "You, er, heard about that then." She asked embarrassed. **

"**Oh yeah," Sirius replied with a slight snort of held back laughter. **

"**No, no that didn't happen again." Lily hastened to add, "Actually this is a great deal more serious than that. You're sure Marlene isn't here?" **

"**Positive, I saw her walk out of the common room myself." **

"**Is Remus here?" Lily asked, she needed to talk to someone and Remus was a good second best to Marlene. Usually she would go ask James if she needed advice, but that really wasn't feasible in this case.**

"**Nope, he's in the library. With Polly Funnell I do believe." **

"**Peter?" Lily asked, now seriously desperate. **

"**No, don't know where he is actually. Can I help you?" Sirius asked wondering what he was letting himself in for. **

"**Um…" She really didn't want to tell Sirius, he was James' best friend and surely whatever she told Sirius would go straight back to him, but she really needed some advice and since Alice had already left Hogwarts the year before Sirius was the only person left who she could really ask. **

"**Um…" She repeated. Sirius looked at her questioningly. "IthinkIlikeJamesPotter." **

**She said it so fast that at first Sirius just looked at her confusedly and she thought she might have to go through the horror of having to tell him again, but then Sirius let out an alarmingly feminine giggle causing Lily's eyebrows to raise sharply in surprise. Before long Sirius was rolling around on the sofa with laughter and not long after that he was collapsed on the floor almost apoplectic. **

"**Sirius!" Lily howled in despair now almost weeping with a mixture of frustration, annoyance and mortification. **

**Sirius, though, continued to laugh. **

**Even when Lily fixed him with her most McGonagall-esque look he didn't stop. Just when she was thinking that the situation really couldn't get much worse, although she was also privately thanking God that no one else was present in the common room, the portrait hole opened and who should walk in but Mr Potter himself. **

**Lily nearly fell to the floor next to Sirius and covered her head with her hands in anguish. These things really only did ever happen in books and, apparently, to her. **

**James looked at Sirius warily, "Care to share the reason for your hysteria Padfoot?" **

**Sirius looked up at his friend, blinking back tears of mirth. "Lily," he gasped for air, "Lily likes…" **

**Lily fixed him with her absolute worse look. The one that, Sirius was pretty sure, would make even Voldemort cower. **

"**Marmite!" He finished, then burst into laughter again. **

"**What?" James asked, now thoroughly perplexed. **

"**What?" Lily echoed a good deal louder and sounding mildly confused and more than a touch livid. **

"**Well, you know you either love it or you hate it. Although I guess that Lily's the exception to that rule." Sirius managed to get out before bursting into laughter once more at the ramifications of his joke, which by the look on Lily's face were not lost on her either although she seemed to find it a good deal less amusing. **

"**So, let me get this straight, you're lying on the floor completely hysterical because Lily told you that she likes marmite?" James addressed Sirius desperately trying to force some sort of sense into this situation. **

**Sirius nodded at him. James turned to Lily who, not knowing what else to do, shrugged. **

"**Padfoot, mate, we've told you time and again. You really shouldn't mix sugar quills with firewhisky, it has a bad effect on you." He told his friend seriously. **

"**A really bad effect." He added. **

"**I'm not drunk!" Sirius protested loudly but his claim was somewhat undermined by another one of his scary girlish giggles. **

"**Much as I worry about leaving you here in this state Padfoot Lily and I have got to go. We've got a heads meeting. Are you going to be alright alone?" James asked with some concern, clearly not believing his friend was sober. Sirius nodded and with some reluctance James headed for the door looking expectantly at Lily. **

"**I'll be there in a minute," She told him. **

**As soon as James had left through the portrait hole she rounded on Sirius. **

"**Black!" She shrieked. Sirius who still hadn't bothered to get up off the floor merely looked up at her. **

"**I don't know what you're screeching about Evans, I covered for you. And I won't tell him."**

"**With marmite. You covered for me with marmite." She pointed out to the unperturbed figure on the floor. "I hate marmite!" Feeling that this would be a suitably dramatic comment to leave with Lily stalked out of the room. **

**Sirius, yet again, released that giggle before reaching to grab the quidditch magazine which he had been reading when Lily came into the room and which was still lying on the sofa. He proceeded to read it still laid out on the floor. **

**The scary thing, he thought some time later, was that he really wasn't drunk.**

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**A/N: Yay chapter 2! I'm wondering if it's perhaps too dialogue heavy? What do you think? **


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